ROME (ITALY)
Crux
June 27, 2019
By Elise Harris
Italian Bishop Francesco Cavina has resigned from his post in the Diocese of Carpi following a flood of media allegations accusing him of mingling ecclesial and political affairs during the election of the city’s mayor earlier this year.
In April an article appeared in the Italian magazine L’Espresso accusing Cavina of “electoral corruption,” saying he participated in a campaign to defame his city’s mayor and accepted favors from the deputy mayor, Simone Morelli, in exchange for helping Morelli get votes from the Church.
Cavina was reportedly being investigated by police for being part of an alleged system of favors and patronage with city officials. According to the magazine, police wiretapped some 10 phone calls in which he was allegedly mingling in political affairs, ensuring a electoral victory to Morelli, who reportedly offered gifts to the Church in exchange.
The report also alleged that Cavina accepted too many gifts from faithful in his diocese, at times receiving quasi-romantic notes from a woman he reportedly referred to as ‘an angel’, and that he intervened using contacts in the Holy See to stop proceedings against a young priest accused of pedophilia.
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